


In My Heart-Blood Warm'd

by julietophelia



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Eventual Josie/Toni, F/F, Stalking, Unhealthy Relationships, but a fic about Choni, not really a Choni fic, post-3x08
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-05
Updated: 2019-01-09
Packaged: 2019-10-02 19:05:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17269376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/julietophelia/pseuds/julietophelia
Summary: Cheryl and Toni are the perfect couple. Even the town being quarantined and turned into a crime lord's playground can't dampen their bliss. But revealed secrets and an unwanted admirer might tear them apart, and leave Toni afraid for her life.





	1. Secrets and Sins

**Author's Note:**

> I started writing this last summer, inspired by some of Vanessa Morgan and Madelaine Petsch's interviews at Comic-Con, and decided to rework it to fit the idea of a quarantined Riverdale. That's why Gryphons and Gargoyles isn't really a thing here, even though it's the only thing that matters in my heart.

Toni had never slept so well in her life. Her peace was only disturbed by the blaring of her alarm. Instinctively, she reached for her phone to shut it off, but her hand only landed on more pillows. She blinked herself awake, wading through an ocean of blankets to find the nightstand.

Everything about Thistlehouse was too big. Halls stretched on forever, lined with doors to dusty rooms. The kitchen downstairs was the size of a double-wide, and the bathroom off Cheryl's room had a big copper tub that could double as a swimming pool. Cheryl called it cozy. She'd explained with a hint of regret that it was the Blossoms' summer cottage, and all that was left after she burned down Thornhill. Toni had felt oddly hot and queasy at that, and not know what to say.

She got out of bed and opened the heavy velvet drapes to let in the morning sun. Extravagant rose gardens dusted with frost stretched out below Cheryl's window, and she could just barely see the glass walls of the conservatory at the far corner of the house. Toni had never been to Thornhill before it burned, or even seen it up close, but it must have been truly impressive if it made this place seem cozy. She wondered sometimes what went through Cheryl's mind when she walked through the Serpents' tent city.

Cheryl walked in then, carrying a tray loaded with food and a pot of tea. She pouted when she saw Toni out of bed.

"Toni, you shouldn't be up. I was going to bring you breakfast."

She smiled, touched by the gesture. "Cheryl, I told you, I’m fine now. You don't have to take care of me."

"I like taking care of you."

She got back under the covers and let Cheryl arrange her breakfast tray over her lap. It was a privilege to see this side of Cheryl, the sweet, caring part of her she kept locked away from everyone else. She studied the massive spread of food, trying to decide where to start.

"I didn't know your favorite, so I made a little of everything." She pointed to each item on the tray and named them. "Welsh rabbit, with a poached egg, bacon, sausages, scones with cherry jam, pancakes with syrup, a thick slice of maple ham, and to drink, a pot of lapsang."

Cheryl poured a cup of tea for her. It smelled like smoke.

"Do you take it with milk or lemon?"

"I don't know. I don't really drink tea." 

Cheryl frowned. "Of course, I should have known. I'll go right downstairs and brew you the best cup of coffee you've ever had."

She reached out to catch Cheryl's hand before she could leave.

"No, Cheryl, it's fine. How do you take it?"

"Lemon, no sugar."

She picked up a half slice of lemon from the saucer and dropped it in her cup, before raising the steaming liquid to her lips. Cheryl smiled.

…

Cheryl was holding another slumber party tonight, as a sort of housewarming to celebrate her moving in. At least, that was the official reason. Toni thought Cheryl was enjoying flaunting that they were together while Archie and Jughead were stuck outside the quarantine.

They ate dinner in the conservatory, surrounded by cut red roses and poisonous plants. Betty and Veronica seemed less than cheerful, understandably. They all had a great deal to worry about these days, with Hiram Lodge turning the town into Sin City. At least she didn't have to worry about Cheryl on top of everything else.

"I know it's been so hard for you lately, Cousin Betty, dear Ronnie, with your boyfriends ditching you and running off together. I hope tonight can raise your spirits," Cheryl said, sweet as maple sap.

"Thank you, Cheryl," Veronica replied, cold as ice.

Toni met Josie's eyes over the table, and they shared a look of resignation before returning to their food. Dinner followed mostly in silence.

"Alright!" Cheryl clapped her hands. "Time to change. Meet back in my room in ten minutes."

Cheryl headed upstairs, and Toni got up to follow. As she was leaving the conservatory, she overheard Betty whispering to Veronica.

"Do you think she'd kick us out if were late?"

"Girl, I wouldn't doubt it."

She had to bite back her smile.

…

Cheryl lent her another dressing gown from her closet, deep purple with black roses. It was real silk, as buttery soft as Cheryl's skin. Toni preferred sleeping in a t-shirt, and she'd been amazed to discover that Cheryl really wore this stuff all the time. She could hardly complain about the view, though.

The other girls filtered in, right on time. Betty wore the same gray kimono she's worn to their last party, but Veronica's looked new, and Josie had traded cheetah print for tiger.

"Secrets and Sins?" Cheryl suggested.

Veronica pulled a bottle of tequila out of her bag. "Fine, but only if we can make it into a drinking game."

"Fine," Cheryl said, grabbing the bottle from Veronica with a Cheshire Cat grin. "But I give all the orders."

"I wouldn't expect anything less."

The way it worked was, Cheryl would accuse them of something, and if it was true, you had to take a drink. After a while, it became clear Cheryl was directing most of her "orders" towards Betty. She was heavily tipsy already, heading towards drunk.

"Someone in this room had the misfortune to lock lips with Jughead Jones."

Betty took a shot, and so did Toni. Surprisingly, Veronica drank as well, looking a little embarrassed. Cheryl did a double take.

"I had no idea our boy king was such a lothario. You're very tolerant, Cousin."

Betty glared back at her. Toni hoped that Jughead had already told her about them.

"Hmm, drink if you've already ruined your hairline before graduating high school with a hideously unflattering ponytail."

"Cheryl," Veronica warned.

"Hey, I think we've had enough for tonight," Toni said.

"Yes, more than enough." Cheryl stood up. "Alright, shoo, everyone. Thistlehouse has dozens of rooms, take your pick."

The other girls gathered their stuff and left, Betty leaning on Veronica.

Toni pulled her thin, useless robe tighter around herself. Thistlehouse was always drafty. The small antique lamps dotted around Cheryl's room left corners of shadow between pools of warm yellow light.

"What was all that about?" she asked Cheryl when the other girls were gone.

Cheryl spun around, arms crossed over her chest. "Three months on the road together, and you never thought to tell me that you and Jughead kissed?"

Oh. Of course. "It was just one night, and before we even met."

"You spent the night together?" Her expression was pure horror.

"He'd just gone through the gauntlet, and my uncle had kicked me out. I needed a place to crash. He needed someone to make sure he didn't die from a concussion. Things happened, but it's totally in the past now. We're just friends."

"Then why keep it a secret?"

"I wasn't trying to keep it a secret. I just didn't think it was a big deal."

Cheryl's eyes filled with tears. Evidently it was a much bigger deal to her. Shit. Guilt twisted up Toni's stomach.

"I'm so sorry, Cheryl. I wish I'd told you."

"Would you rather be with him?" Cheryl whispered.

"No, of course not." She tried to hold Cheryl's hand, but she pulled away.

"Yes, you would. Who could blame you? If he wasn't in love with Betty, you'd be together, and you wouldn't have to settle for a monster like me." The tears spilled over her lovely cheeks.

"That's not true, Cheryl. Don't talk about yourself like that. You're not a monster."

"When my mother sent Heather away, she told me that she would have just left me for a boy anyway. She said girls like us are fickle."

"Oh, Cheryl." She hugged her tight and rubbed her back until her sobs receded.

"I love you so much." Cheryl said into her shoulder. "I've never been this happy before. I don't know what I'd do if I had to go back to being alone."

She pulled back to meet Cheryl's eyes. "You won't. I'm not going anywhere."

"Promise?" Cheryl took her hands. "Promise you won't leave."

"Never."


	2. La Bonne Nuit

After another morning scramble, she finally shut off her alarm. A persistent buzzing noise lingered in the room. She searched for the source of the irritation, and traced it back to her duffel bag stowed away in the closet. Her burner phone, for Serpent business, had a message. She opened it quickly, expecting a text from Sweet Pea, or maybe news from Jughead.

 _Got my eyes on u_ , the message read. She didn't recognize the number. Jughead? He'd probably needed to get a new phone, being on the run. Did he mean he was nearby? Had he found a way through the quarantine? She felt bad for thinking it, but after that slumber party the other day, she wasn't exactly looking forward to having him around again.

 _Creepy phrasing_ , she texted back, and went downstairs for breakfast.

…

With the town quarantined and no school, they were all left with heaps of free time and much less to do with it. Luckily for Veronica, this had turned out to be good news for La Bonne Nuit. Now that business was booming, or at least existent, Veronica had asked Toni to be their second bartender. Reggie mostly seemed to be using his new time off to hit on the boss.

On her way to work that evening, her burner phone buzzed again in her pocket. It was that same mysterious number. _Sry. Can't help it. Ur too pretty._

Okay, that was definitely not Jughead. If Sweet Pea and Fangs were trying some stupid prank, she was going to kill them.

It was a good night for the speakeasy, far from empty but not so packed that she couldn't handle the bar herself. Reggie and Veronica were tucked into a corner booth, laughing together. Veronica touched his arm. Maybe she didn’t have to feel sorry for Veronica after all.

Sweet Pea and Fangs stopped by the bar, almost unrecognizable thanks to the dress code.

"Looking sharp, boys."

Fangs grinned. "Same to you."

"What're you having?"

"Virgin rum and coke." Toni smiled at the lame attempt at humor and got him the soda.

"Nothing for me. I'm not spending a cent at a bar that won't serve booze." Sweet Pea turned away and leaned back against the bar to survey the crowd.

"Have either of you heard from Jughead or FP?"

"Nada. How is it up in Hill House?"

"Wonderful, thank you. Me and the ghost of old genocidal great-great-great-grandpappy Barnabas have become such good friends."

Fangs nudged Sweet Pea with his elbow. "Oh no, she's gone mad already."

She rolled her eyes, but it reminded her of the texts from earlier.

"Hey, either of you idiots responsible for this?" She flipped open her burner phone and held it out to them.

"What? No way," Fangs said.

"I thought maybe it was a prank or something."

"I'm hurt, Topaz. This is well beneath our standards."

"Okay, I believe you." She clicked the phone shut and shoved it back in her pocket.

"Do you ever think we got ripped off, letting the Lodge girl trade away the Wyrm?" Sweet Pea asked, scowling at their opulent surroundings.

"She has a name, Sweet Pea."

"Giving Veronica our blessing to hand over the last piece of the Southside to her mad dictator father so she could open this pretentious juice bar."

"Hey, this place is nice, and we're always welcome here."

"Too damn nice, that's my problem with it."

"I don't feel all that welcome with Mantle hanging around," Fangs muttered under his breath.

"Well as long as I've got a job here, I've got no complaints."

"We're going to be sleeping in tents forever if we sit back and wait for northsiders to have our best interests in mind, that's all I'm saying."

"Mm hmm. How are things with Josephine?"

Sweet Pea avoided her eyes. Fangs gave him a sympathetic look.

"That's ancient history," he said neutrally.

"Her choice, not yours?"

"We both knew going in it was just a summer fling."

She reached up to pat his shoulder. "I get it. She's gorgeous. Anyone would fall for her."

Sweet Pea's glare demanded an end to the conversation. Lucky for him, the music stopped and the stage lights came up. She turned to see Kevin at the mic, introducing the main entertainment for the evening.

Josie, speak of the devil, stepped out from the curtains, looking like a sun goddess in her sequined yellow gown. She began to sing a slow, dreamy tune. Toni was captivated.

Cheryl emerged from the crowd to urge her to dance. She slipped away from the bar to join her, and the two of them swayed softly to the music.

"Isn't my bestie the greatest?" Cheryl gushed. Toni nodded.

By the time they went home, Toni had forgotten all about the weird texts.

…

She got four more messages the next day. There was enough information in them to prove that whoever was sending them knew where she lived, where she was going, who she was with. She tried to brush it off, but it was starting to make her paranoid.

She was at work, restocking the bar, when she found an unlabeled box that was suspiciously light.

"Vee, I think there's been a mistake with your supplier," she called out.

She sliced open the box and jumped back when she saw the contents. Veronica and Reggie rushed over. Inside, wrapped in plastic, was a beautiful young water snake, slit down the belly from head to tail.

"Oh my god," Veronica gasped.

"Looks like someone's sending us a message," Reggie said. 

"Yeah, and I'm pretty sure it's for me."

"More trouble from the Ghoulies?"

"Maybe." She knew better, but she wasn't about to confide in Reggie Mantle.

"I'll call Cheryl," Veronica said.

"No, don't. She'll freak out like I had another seizure."

"You sure?"

"I'm good, Veronica. Whoever this is, if they think a dead animal is enough to rattle me, they don't know me at all."

"Alright, but l think you should take tonight off."

"If you insist."

"I do insist." Veronica touched her arm. "Whatever this is, we've got your back. I know last year I wasn't a friend to the Serpents, to say the least, but I've pledged to stand with them now, and so has Reggie."

"Thank you, Vee."

While she was climbing the stairs back to the diner, her burner phone buzzed in her pocket. She stayed back in the phone booth that held the speakeasy's secret entrance, looking to make sure no one was around before she checked it. There was a voicemail message. Holding her breath, she played the message and held the phone to her ear. It was a deep, modulated voice, like she'd heard the Black Hood used.

"It makes me sick, watching you turn your back on your people, consorting with a Blossom. You're mine, and it's time you knew it. Don't spend another night in that house, or I'll pluck out your girlfriend's pretty red hair and strangle her with it."

She dropped the phone like it had burned her. With shaking hands, she retrieved it from the tile floor and found it undamaged. She wished it had shattered into a million tiny pieces.

She argued with herself the whole walk home. She couldn't let some anonymous prank caller boss her around. She was in a gang, for God's sake. But if Cheryl got hurt, and there was anything she could have done to prevent it, she would never forgive herself.

By the time she reached Thistlehouse's gate, her mind was made up. She didn't have a choice. She'd have to break her promise to Cheryl, no matter how much it would hurt her.

…

She put her duffel bag on the bed and started shoving clothes inside. It didn't take long. Half of her things still hadn't been unpacked.

"Toni? What are you doing?"

Damn it. Cheryl had caught her already.

"Hey, um, we need to talk."

She sat down on the bed. Cheryl crossed the room hesitantly and sat beside her.

She tried to think of the kindest way to break the news to her. There was no excuse good enough.

"I'm worried we've been moving too fast. We're still in high school, after all. So I was thinking maybe I should move out."

Cheryl tried not to show her hurt, but Toni saw her face drop. She hated this.

"Where will you live? Back to the Serpent shantytown?"

"I'll find a place. Don't worry about it."

"I'm not going to let you sleep in a tent while I sit up here in my mansion."

"It was fine with you before." Shit, that sounded wrong. "It's not that bad there. I'm used to sleeping rough."

Cheryl straightened her spine and pushed back her shoulders, looking regal. It couldn't hide her sniffle.

"So this is how good your promises are, is it? You couldn't even make it a week before abandoning me," she spat, turning her pain into venom.

"I'm not abandoning you, I swear. I just need some space."

Cheryl studied her face closely. "Tell me what's really wrong, Toni."

She sighed. "I can't."

"Yes, you can. I'm not letting you run away. Whatever's got you so scared, we'll face it together."

Damnit. There was no getting out of this. How did Cheryl know her so well?

"Okay, okay. I've been getting these messages. It started out as just weird little comments. Then they started getting creepier. Today at work, someone left a dead snake for me to find."

"Oh my god."

"They threatened to hurt you if I didn't leave."

"Oh, Toni." Cheryl stroked her cheek. "I won't be frightened off by some run of the mill stalker. I'll slay any dragon that tries to take you away from me."

She leaned into Cheryl's touch. "I just wish I knew who the dragon was."

"I bet it was a ploy to break us up by my hellbeast mother."

She shook her head. "They're all sent to my burner phone. That's the thing that's really freaking me out."

"So?" Cheryl scrunched up her nose in confusion.

She swallowed hard and voiced the thought she'd been hiding from. "So, it means whoever's doing this must be a Serpent."


End file.
